The iron ore shipping hub Port Hedland escaped the brunt of a powerful cyclone that swept across the northwest Australian coastline on Thursday, with emergency officials lifting evacuation alerts as the storm veered east and lost much of its punch.

By 1700 GMT, Cyclone Rusty had been downgraded to a Category 2 tropical cyclone after touching land 100 kms (60 miles) east of Port Hedland near the town of Pardoo.

Satellite tracking by meteorologists showed the cyclone crossing the coastline near Pardoo, a small mining town and cattle station east of Port Hedland early on Thursday. Atlas Iron, which operates a mine in Pardoo yielding around 2.5 million metric tons of ore a year, has evacuated the site.

The region, known as the Pilbara, is a sparsely populated and inhospitable outback part of Australia, and is the world's largest source of iron ore.

At its strongest, Rusty was packing winds in excess of 200 km/hour (120 miles/hour). By 1700 GMT, gusts had dropped to around 125 kms (70 miles), according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Rusty is the fourth cyclone to form during Australia's 2012-13 "cyclone season" which runs from November to the end of April. There are typically 11 cyclones per season off Australia's northwest and northeast coasts.